The answer to spam (as long as spam exists) is not to run from it, but to put it in its place.
Email addresses are nearly useless if they're not public. But you need a good spam filter.
This is one of the reasons why I'm still using a Yahoo email address after well over a decade.
Its spam filtering is quite good. I have no qualms about using my Yahoo address for all my
ordinary public needs. (yes, I also have an account on a different email server which I only give
to my most trusted contacts.)
It is quite liberating to not have to worry about whose hands your email address will fall into.

That I disagree with. Email addresses are nearly useless if noone knows them, but addresses known to a proper subset of the world population can be quite handy. I've various public email addresses. I've also tons of email addresses only a few number of people know. I even have email addresses only one person beside myself knows. Except for some of the public addresses (which only get spam), all of them are useful.

Email addresses aren't that different from phone numbers. Just because a number is unlisted doesn't mean it carries no use.